Montgomery law enforcement rarely makes use of roadblocks

We haven't had a checkpoint in so long its pathetic. -- Derrick Cunningham

Several thefts were reported in Montgomery during the past few days. Thieves targeted top-dollar electronics, including televisions, laptops and gaming consoles, and also made away with some lawn equipment. (Natalie Wade, al.com)Natalie Wade, al.com

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Montgomery area law enforcement agencies say they don't make much use of enforcement roadblocks, these days.

Chief Deputy Derrick Cunningham, of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said that his department rarely uses them, though the reason why has nothing to do with the reaction from community residents.

"We haven't had a checkpoint in so long its pathetic," he said.

Cunningham said that he knows roadblocks can provoke outrage from residents who see them as an inconvenience, but that doesn't affect the department's decision making process when considering them as a strategic tool.

Most of the time, when the sheriff's office deploys a checkpoint, he said, it's focused on a target area where residents have made repeated complaints about criminal activity.

Even then, though, the department uses them sparingly. He said it's probably been nine months at least since it set up a checkpoint. They are too expensive.

In order to staff a checkpoint, Cunningham said, he has to bring in deputies that would normally be off duty and pay them overtime. "I can't just take deputies off the street, that would mean there's a void in my county," Cunningham said.

The sheriff's office does not receive any part of the money from fines, he said, so there is no incoming revenue to the department to offset the costs.

In the city of Montgomery, where the fines would presumably be kept locally, checkpoints are not used much either, according to Lt. Regina Duckett, a spokeswoman for the Police Department.

Duckett said roadblocks as means of catching drunk drivers are carried out by State Troopers, for the most part.

Neighborhood roadblocks targeted at extinguishing crime hotspots are used sparingly by the department, she said. They fell out of favor as the department added other enforcement tools such as bicycle units and the Special Response Bureau, which is tasked with saturating trouble spots with officers to clamp down when crime flares up.

Like Cunningham, Duckett said that she can't remember the last time the department set up a roadblock.